Contractor Selected for Winamac Wastewater Project

Winamac Town Council members looked over bids for their wastewater project during their regular meeting Monday night.

Midwestern Engineers CEO Mark Sullivan reminded members that
the wastewater project budget was initially set at $1,250,000. He added that
the Town was awarded a $700,000 grant that will be going toward project costs.

This project was originally bid out last year and bids were
opened in October. However, after the only submitted bid came in way over
budget, officials decided to reject it and rebid the project.

Sullivan appeared before the council with three new bids,
explaining that the bidders included the companies Cosby Excavation, Kosing
Industrial and Bowen Engineering

His recommendation was to go with Crosby
since they submitted the lowest bid at

$1,194,000. As a reminder, Crosby
was the only company to submit a bid during the original bidding process. In this round, they were able to bring their
cost down about $281,000 from where it was at with their initial base bid.

However, despite their best efforts to bring down costs, the
lowest bid was still about $134,000 over the initial budget. Sullivan noted
that since this project is being done to comply with a state regulation related
to the wastewater treatment plan, they really need to keep on schedule and move
forward with the contractor.

He mentioned that his office is doing what they can do
adjust project costs to make up for the shortfall, including cutting out
$75,000 in engineering fees. He also noted that Clerk-Treasurer Melanie Berger
is expected to coordinate with Umbaugh officials about the matter.

Members provided unanimous approval to award the wastewater
project contract to Crosby Excavating.